


The pain that changed you

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Akumatised Marinette, Angst, Depression, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Lady Moth, Minor OC - Freeform, Originial Characters, Pain, Someone Help Her, Sorry guys, VILLIAN MARINETTE, editing in process, slowburn, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-06 10:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8747242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Marinette calm down, you’re okay now.” Chat whispered reaching out to the beautiful mess in front of him, moving in Chat pulled her into a hug, pausing at the sudden contact Marinette quickly pulled Chat in closer sobbing into his leather cladded shoulder. “You’re okay, shhh.” He cooed.“No, I’m not.”Or; After the brutal take down of Hawkmoth, Marinette runs and hurts herself and others on the way. Three years later, an unlikely hand of her hold partner is held out to her to help her. However After hearing how much she's hurt everyone Marinette becomes a target of the last ever akuma. Enter Lady Moth.





	1. Abscence

Her navy blue locks were scattered beneath her, resembling her life’s state, in a fit of rage she had hacked her hair off, furious at herself, her actions, the outcome of Hawkmoth and the identity of Chat Noir. She didn’t want to be recognised anymore, her miraculous was stuffed away angrily in her apartment and now her badly hacked her hair made her unrecognisable, which was something she needed, looking in the mirror one last time, Marinnette vowed to make a trip to the hairdressers to fix her amateur job. She placed her scissors on the bathroom sink and limped out into her now half empty apartment. She had moved in only a week ago after everything had happened seeking an escape away from Alya and her family and worst of all Adrien, she was now residing on the outskirts of Paris where her friends or family barely visited. 

Marinnette stared at the bags of clothes she had splurged some of her savings on, needing a change in appearance and everything else, she needed her outside to resemble her inside and she needed to be unrecognisable to anyone who ever knew her or loved her, especially after Chat noir knew her identity after she had almost beaten his father half to death in a fit of pure rage when he had hurt Chat. 

She could no longer handle being Ladybug or herself, the world had decided to destroy her in that moment of catching Hawkmoth, her destiny was to end in a path of destruction and pain and Marinnette was only starting to get back up on her feet. Maybe in a few years she’d be ready to see Chat, Adrien, her family or even Alya but for now, she couldn’t handle the pain she had handed to them all on a silver platter almost as if it was on purpose. She had never resented herself more than she did in that current time frame. 

At least Paris wouldn’t even need her again, she sourly thought, half relieved and angered at the city itself for needing her in the first place. 

 

*******************************************************************************

 

Three years, it had been three years since Hawkmoth, since Ladybug and Chat and since her absolute isolation before she saw him again, him with his arm wrapped around in a friendly gesture around Ayla, ironically enough staring at the Chat noir and Ladybug statue situated in the park they had once fought in against an akuma.  
  
She stopped in her tracks almost as though time had stopped itself, her short hair blew gently in the wind messing itself up, her phone was gripped within her calloused hands from endless designing and sewing, her heart hammered in her chest and her breathing came out in short shallow pants as if she’d ran a marathon. 

She had thought she was over them, forgotten them, pushed them back in the deepest depths of her mind, but here she was on the verge on tears from just staring at the backs of the duo. 

And to make matters worse, he looked over his shoulder almost as though he could sense her stare, his green and now dull eyes clicked with her own blue cold eyes. 

She was the one who had made them look so lifeless she thought sadly, trying to think on what to do, should she run? Or put on her tough and cold act and approach them? In the three years she had taken the same route to her small company building and in that time she hadn’t seen them here until now. 

What should she do? 

 

What should he do? 

His long lost friend and Ladybug was right behind him, meters away staring, should he alert Alya who was still chatting away? Should he ignore her? Run to her and hold her?

Adrien was staring at the ghost of Marinette the once shy and stammering girl he had cherished who had turned out to be Ladybug his partner in saving Paris, who had brought down his own father. 

The girl who’s life he had ruined by one nasty comment he hadn’t meant to let slip past his lips. 

“You’ve ruined my life. Marinette.” The phrase echoed in his guilty mind. 

The girl, who’s eyes were now cold and empty all because of him and Chat, the girl who didn’t even resemble herself, Adrien wouldn’t have even noticed her if she hadn’t stopped in shock to stare at him and Alya. 

Her navy blue hair was now cut short into a trendy undercut that suited her well, instead of her usual bright colours she once wore were now replaced with a pair of black ripped jeans and a crimson red shirt with strategically placed slits on the sides. She didn’t look like Marinette, she had looked like a completely different person and perhaps even more mature. 

Adrien couldn’t help but think it was because of him, Chat and lastly his father, the thought almost had him on the verge of tears.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, hadn’t been seen around Paris for three solid years, Marinette Dupain-Cheng hadn’t contacted her parents, Alya, Nino, Adrien or even Chat in three solid years and neither had Ladybug. 

Yet on the one day he had decided to visit the familiar statue of his alter ego and her own with Alya he’d come across her and by the looks of it she’d come across them. 

However, before Adrien could attempt to make contact with her or even tell Ayla, the girl was running, running from him, running from the Park and Paris once again.

Adrien so badly wanted to chase her to tell her to come back, to speak to them to go back to her old self, to fix things between them all, to come back into their lives and to accompany Chat noir on his rare patrols once again. 

Yet he failed, she was gone once again, out of his life, probably never to be found again unless it would be by accident, next time he told himself, next time he’d do all that. 

“Are you okay?” Ayla’s question registered in his mind, snapping back to stare at her, Adrien sighed. 

“No, I miss them both so bad,” Adrien answered referring to Marinette and her alter ego. 

“Me too, I miss them both,” replied Ayla completely unaware that they were behind her moments ago, missing them both just has hard as all of her repressed feelings reawakened into blind panic urging her to run.


	2. Begging

Marinette clutched the newest fashion magazine in her hands containing her squeal as she read and re-read the article about her growing fashion company and line, ‘Noir’ the simple yet most meaningful name she had thought of before putting her mind to creating the fashion name and line, and she did it all by herself until Edna came a long, a retired fashion designer who had taken an interest in Marinette, she had helped the company grow to what it was becoming now. 

Marinette was nothing but proud of herself and her hired designers and managers, even though she was the owner of her company, Edna was placed as CEO and hadn’t made Marinette regret it once, never in the three years of hell she suffered would have Marinette expected to be being successful in becoming a designer. 

She finished up her cleaning of the small company building and quickly locked up after herself, Marinette looked around one last time, as she stalked into the night with the same magazine tucked under her arm, she stepped into the familiar park, stopping to look around for them again, ever since she saw them a week ago she couldn’t get them or her old life off of her mind and it was daunting, she was being haunted by something so great and meaningful to her, the life she had given up. Her family, friends and superhero role. Marinette could feel the regret begin to seep into her and pool within her stomach. 

 

Here she was again, Chat watched from the park statue as Marinette stood alone in the darkness of park, looking around herself as if she could sense his alter ego. 

Why was he suddenly seeing her so much in Paris now? What did it mean for him? For her? And for Ladybug? 

Shaking his head, Chat had to focus on her. On his past Ladybug, he did the one thing that he knew would make a difference, he leapt off from his spot and landed behind her with a soft ‘thud’.

 

Marinette swallowed, he was behind her, she had his landing sound memorised as weird as that was, but Chat no Adrien was behind her. The only two men in her life that she loved and cherished were standing behind her. Her heart felt as though it was tearing and a pool of sadness found its way back into her stomach.

“Mari-Princess”, Chat quickly corrected himself, the nickname jolted Marinette. He sounded so broken so depressed and she had caused it, she had caused her love, kitty and partner to sound so broken when she snatched away his dad after he had already lost his mum. 

If Marinette could reverse time, she would have never caught Hawkmoth she would have been content to continue fighting his akuma’s until he gave up or until he died.  
But no, she had to beat Adrien’s own father in front of him into a mess of blood and weak begs and she had to reveal who he was and lastly she had to ruin everything. 

“If you’re going to hurt me, Chat I give you permission, I will not fight back. I deserve this after what I’ve done.” Marinette tiredly stated, feeling every ounce of sadness recoil into her stomach, challenging her to cry or run or just collapse right there into a weak version of her usual self. 

 

Taken back by her statement and by how sincere it sounded, Chat moved to face her to see her pale face, to see her eyes and to tell her, he could never hurt her, she only did what was part of the job of Chat noir and Ladybug, it wasn’t her fault Hawkmoth was his father, besides Chat could never hurt her, he’d already hurt her enough. 

Chat moved closer to Marinette, he reached out a gloved hand and cupped her cheek causing the girl to jump and stare at him in wonder and surprise, holding out his free hand the one with his ring Chat spoke, “take it off princess.”

 

Marinette looked at the black ring in front of her with the green paw symbol she had used for her fashion line except with the twist of turning it red for the both of them. 

She reached out and gripped the ring and almost pulled it off, except remembering who was under the mask stopped her. 

She couldn’t face Adrien, she was having trouble with Chat and with his gloved and familiar hand resting on her cheek almost lovingly, Marinette quickly stepped out of his touch and shook her head. 

“I can’t Chat, I can’t face who you are under that mask, I can’t do this. I’m not prepared, for you or for any of this, I’m afraid I won’t ever be.” She whispered sounding like her old sweet self in that exact moment. 

 

Chat gulped at the memories flashing through his mind of the young teenaged Marinette, oh how he yearned to speak to her again. 

“Marinette, can you please just please visit me, in my civilian form, for a coffee or anything and just speak to me, please I miss you Ayla does as well as your parents,” Chat begged, watching as she began to crumble from his words. 

“I can’t”

“Why can’t you?”

“I bring too much pain.”

“Nonsense!” Chat shouted, sounding so distressed he caught Marinette off guard, Chat moved forward in one swift movement and swept the slim girl into his embrace. 

“You put everyone in pain when you ran off without warning and never came back.” Chat whispered feeling as the girl stiffened in his arms.

“You’re making this hard Chat.”

“Good, I hope it is hard, I hope it so hard for you to be here for you to stop talking to me, so hard that you come back to all of us.” 

At that Marinette pushed Chat away staring at him with teary eyes, “stop this!” she shouted clenching her magazine furiously.

“I’m not stopping until you come back to us, Marinette. Stop thinking about yourself and think about us!”

“I don’t just think about myself, if I did I wouldn’t have left! I wouldn’t have given up the boy I was in love with! My friends! Family! Or Ladybug!”

“The boy you were in love with?” Chat echoed, realisation dawning on him, he watched as Marinette chewed her lower lip. She shook her head almost in defeat and once again spun on her heel and bolted.  
  
Right out of his life again. 

“Marinette!”


	3. Bug come back

Her hair was a mess, it was ruffled and frazzled looking as though she had been electrocuted, her belongings were scattered everywhere, the magazine she was proud of hours ago was dumped on her floor carelessly already carrying an imprint of her shoes sole. 

Clutched in between her hands as tears slid down the girls stressed face was the most precious thing in the world, the item that gave her something great before leading her to her own destruction. Her miraculous glimmered under her bedroom light, a light sheet of dust covered the earrings and Marinette couldn’t help but wonder about Tikki, was she trapped in them? Always in the darkness or asleep? Marinette felt horrible for her kwami, Chat’s vicious yet truthful words still struck her to the chord. 

Marinette couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain she’d put her parents through they’d only just found out she was Ladybug and she ran, their own daughter ran, their own daughter avoided contact for three solid years and hadn’t even been decent enough to send them a letter and Ayla, she’d lost her best friend and idol in one go without any contact. They must have been so worried, they must have felt so useless not being able to stop her as Marinette from leaving.

“I’m awful,” Marinette choked out, her unwelcomed depression began to sweep over her not even her anti-depressants could control her illness at times. 

“I’m not running….Stupid Chat,” Marinette croaked to herself. She clenched the earrings in her hands not too sure on what to do, should she put them back in? But if she did than what?

Visit everyone as Ladybug? Drop by and act casual? No she couldn’t, she wouldn’t feel right, Marinette had to visit. 

“Maybe I should just…Maybe I should just go for a test run…Maybe” Marinette mumbled to herself, she swiped at her tears, biting the inside of her cheek trying to think of all the cons of popping her earrings in for just one night. For just one night within the three years they’d been stored away. 

 

“I deserve this. I deserve to be Ladybug…I deserve to be her for just …One night.” Marinette scolded herself, having made up her mind, the girl placed the box on her desk. With a long sigh as if it would release all the built up anxiety and depression, Marinette popped her earrings in.

“Marinette!” a cheerful voice she hadn’t heard in years cheered, Marinette stared down at Tikki with new tears forming in her eyes, “Oh Tikki…I’m sorry…It’s been so long,” Marinette sobbed.

The kwami began to tear up herself and flew to hug Marinette’s soaked cheek, “it’s okay Marinette I understand, what you did must have been hard.”

“Tikki I know this must be fast, but we’ll talk later, but I need to do this. I need to do this to hopefully heal at least a little bit...Tikki, Spots on.”

And just like that an old familiar magic surrounded her as if greeting her like an old friend, Marinette looked down at her suit in nothing but awe everything was the same, the only different thing about her look was the undercut that went with it instead of her pigtails, however that couldn’t be helped. 

Marinette gripped her yo-yo once again, drowning in the sense of familiarity it brought to her. She gave the yoyo a test spin before lunging out of her window, squealing as she quickly wrapped her yoyo around the tree right outside of her apartment. 

In a time span of twenty minutes, Marinette found herself at her and Chat’s old meeting spot, her heart throbbed in pain at the thought, recalling his words the previous night. 

“You put everyone in pain when you ran off without warning and never came back.”

Shaking her head as if it would erase the words he had spoken, Marinette swung away from the Eiffel tower, towards the Agreste mansion, she needed to return there, she needed to look at the room where everything went wrong. And then only then would she know if she was ready to begin letting people back into her life, starting with Tikki. 

 

Adrien ran a hand through his blond locks as he looked over the new designs for the Agreste brand, after his dad was jailed for his crimes as Hawkmoth, the company had been passed to him and therefore Adrien left modelling to instead run the famous fashion line his father had been forever proud of. 

Adrien almost jumped when his phone began to blare, snatching it up he quickly answered. 

“Hello, Adrien Agreste speaking,” he answered professionally. 

"Adrien! You’re not going to believe who’s been reported swinging around Paris!” it was Ayla, Adrien noted the panic and anxiety ringing in her voice.

“Ayla, who is it? It isn’t Hawkmoth is it?” Adrien quickly queried, he listened as the girl took in what sounded like a shaky breath. 

“Ladybug.”

“Ladybug?”

“Yes Adrien, Someone posted pictures on the Ladyblog of her, she’s here. She’s back in Paris.”

“W-what do I do?” Adrien stammered out, had he finally gotten through to Marinette? Had Chat gotten through to her?

“Go get her Adrien. Go get her and please don’t let her go.” 

“I’ll try Ayla.” Adrien replied, hanging up quickly, he looked towards Plagg as the kwami stated back in alarm.

“Claws out.” Adrien shouted, he pulled his baton out and sure enough Ladybug for the first time in three years, was on the radar and she was heading towards him.  
  
All Adrien had to do was wait, as Chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just wanted to thank you for all your comments! I'm starting to drift the story away from the angst to get somewhere theres still a lot of angst to come but I want to start getting Ladynoir/adrinette to start to burn into a slow horrible burn! This chapter is quite short as I have the next two chapters ready to go as this chapter turned out massive like 3000 words that I've split as I am starting to direct it to its ship and to lessen some angst. 
> 
> But thanks for reading! I love reading the comments from you guys and I just hope ya'll enjoy now.


	4. Negativity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An explanation.

Marinette stopped meters away from the room, Hawkmoth’s old room, it was connected to Adrien’s mansion but could only be accessed by a secret passage his father had managed to build and design without anyone knowing. However because of what happened, it could now be accessed by the shattered window that once resembled a complete butterfly.

Reigning in her trembling as best as she could, Marinette swung her yo-yo and hoisting herself up she landed loudly into the room that lead to what she was now.

She looked around taking in every little detail of the room, it was untouched everything was the same, the very blood of Chat Noir and Gabriel Agreste still stained the cement floor, Hawkmoths miraculous was still shattered on the floor, it almost looked irreparable but she knew better, Marinette bent down and scooped the broken item into her hands. Master Fu would appreciate its return.

Marinette gasped as all the memories of that night flooded through her as if the miraculous was overflowing with them and projecting them into her mind.

 

_“It’s up Hawkmoth!” Ladybug shouted triumphantly, the said villain stared back at Ladybug with nothing but arrogance burning away in his eyes._

_“Is it now? You may think it’s up for me, but I am quite capable of fighting my own battles!” He shouted back, smirking towards the superhero duo._

_“You’re just kids! The two of you and you both need to be taught a lesson or two!” Hawkmoth shouted, he stalked towards Chat Noir, with a cruel grin crossing his face._

_He stared Chat Noir in the eyes and planted his cane against the heroes chest tauntingly, “And Adrien to think I was almost proud of you,” the man sneered out causing Chat to freeze, he stared at Hawkmoth with nothing but realization dawning upon him, “d-d-dad?” he choked out._

_“Wait, Adrien?” Ladybug muttered out, watching the exchange with her yo-yo ready to attack._

_“That’s right Ladybug, this here is my son. And I Hawkmoth am his father. Too bad he didn’t follow in my footsteps though…And become a villain…You could have become Chat Blanc!” He proudly shouted, causing Chat to tremble in fear, anger and mostly resentment._

_“Feeling vulnerable are we? So much negativity.” Hawkmoth cooed, this was just too easy._

_Marinette watched in horror as an akuma began to form in Hawkmoths hand…He had planned to use his own son, just for their miraculous, it was despicable._

_“No!” Marinette screamed, tackling Hawkmoth as the akuma flew into Chat’s bell, she watched in horror as Chat’s suit began to change to white at the feet, the said person gasped in shock and what appeared to be agony._

_“Fight it Chat!” Marinette screamed, as Hawkmoth shoved her off of him._

_“You will not turn me father!” Chat yelled in agony, he tore his bell off and threw it along with the akuma trapped inside. “I will not hurt her for you, you’ve controlled me enough!”_

_“Very well Adrien, I had higher expectations for you but this…This will do!”_  
_\_  
_Shrinking back in fear as Hawkmoth stalked towards him, Marinette raced back to her feet and bolted towards Hawkmoth, but she wasn’t in time, the man in question rammed his cane into Chat’s sternum causing him to cough and roll onto his side in a painful coughing fit._

_“Pathetic and to think I raised a son like you?” Hawkmoth muttered to himself as he began to deliver kick after kick into Chat’s ribs who took every ounce of it. “Come on Adrien fight me! I’m meant to be your enemy!”_

_“I’m not fighting you.” He croaked out, knowing that this wasn’t his father this was his subconscious, which was how the whole miraculous thing worked, he had concluded it after always being confident and flirty because that was who Adrien Agreste was subconsciously, Adrien just hoped his conclusion was true and this was the case…He should have asked Plagg._

_“I will fight you!” Ladybug said with ease and confidence, she hooked her yo-yo around him, encasing the man in its string, tugging on it Marinette lunged at him, hitting the villain with a powerful kick as he fell._

_“Ladybug don’t! Just take his miraculous!” Chat cried, watching in horror as his heroine delivered another kick to Hawkmoth, no his father, she went for it again until Hawkmoth quickly grasped her leg and pulled her down, Ladybug yelped as her head hit the hard cement, she attempted to roll onto her stomach as he grasped her left leg with inhumane strength, but the angle he had her at wouldn’t allow it, she’d have to break her leg at this point just to flip over, he was so strong._

_“Don’t want to hurt your leg?” He darkly cooed._

_Biting her lip, Marinette knew it was risk her leg or be defeated, besides, the miraculous will heal any damage to her body. Knowing that, she pushed herself up from the ground and swung her yo-yo out to the ceiling hooking it onto one of the revealed beams, however Hawkmoths grip on her leg was like a vice, she couldn’t drag herself out of his grip._

_So Marinette in a moment of adrenaline and fear pumping through her body did a powerful twist allowing her yo-yo to do all the work, she cried as she felt the bones in her legs break as she turned to face Hawkmoth who let her leg go in disgust and surprise, Marinette screamed in utter agony when she landed, not noticing how Chat rushed past her in a fit of anger to attack his own father._

_She didn’t even notice their fight through her pain until Chat was thrown into the wall beside her, his head made a sickening crack with the impact and blood began to seep out from his blond locks onto the cement floor forever staining it._

_“Chat!”_

_“Mmm,” he was barely conscious but still awake and most importantly alive._

_“Not a very bright kid is he?” Hawkmoth taunted, causing something to snap in her. Hawkmoth could hurt her all he wanted but to hurt Chat, Adrien and his own son. That wasn’t something he’d escape the wrath of._

_Pushing herself up to stand, Marinette placed all her weight onto her one good leg and lunged like an angered lioness, she brought Hawkmoth to the floor in one go, catching him off guard, the duo toppled to the ground and Marinette ignored all the pain in her leg and instead saw red staring at Hawkmoth below her._

_She grasped for his throat with one hand and began to punch the evil out of Hawkmoth with the other, she punched him until blood was seeping from underneath the mask, in her fit of rage she tore his miraculous off and threw it to the floor so it shattered upon impact and instead of Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste in her clutches suffering the wrath of Ladybug, he felt nothing but pain as she continued her attack._

_Chat watched as his father began coughing up blood from his pounding, Chat watched as he began to beg, began to beg for her to stop. He began apologizing for what he’d done and what he’d said, but his lady wouldn’t stop, Hawkmoth was defeated and yet she continued beating him to pulp, she continued being so violent it began to disgust him._

_“Ladybug stop!” Chat shouted but it did nothing, instead she moved to just purely strangle him and Chat watched as the life began to drift him eyes and he began to claw at her grip in a struggle to live._

_“You-you’re killing him!” Chat yelled tears pooling within his eyes, pushing himself up he ignored the dizzy spots, ignored the drops of blood that slid down his face and instead lunged at Ladybug tackling her to the floor._

_“I’m not finished with him!” Ladybug screamed against Chat, as he tried to hold the girl still, “you’ll kill him!”_

_“So what!? He deserves it after everything his done to Paris and you! I can’t let him live!”_

_“You’re meant to be a hero Ladybug!” Chat yelled at her not even phasing the girl, her usual calm blue bell eyes were filled with a storm and intent to kill she looked murderous._

_‘Beep beep’ his miraculous warning broke through the sound of his father wheezing and coughing up blood and the sounds of Ladybug screaming. Realizing what he had to do, Chat reached for Ladybug’s earrings and as quickly as he could, he took them out, he then watched in horror as the suit slipped off and underneath him was a puffy eyed and seething Marinette, the sweet girl he cherished most._

_“Chat…Adrien how dare you!?” She growled, swiping at Chat who quickly removed himself from her, he watched not caring as his own transformation wore off as Marinette moved to stand on her own, she tested out her previously damaged leg only to let out a small cry, it was still damaged slightly, only now did she notice a piece of bone protruding from her porcelain skin, the Miraculous obviously couldn’t fix something like that._

_Ignoring the pain, she adjusted all her weight onto her good leg and began looking around herself, her eyes locked with Gabriel who was barely conscious before looking at Adrien who had moved to stand in front of his father as if to protect him._

_“We need to call the police.” Marinette stated not feeling quite like herself._

_“No!” Adrien shouted, “I will not listen to you! You almost killed my father! I’ve already lost my mum! And you knew that yet…Yet you tried taking my dad as well!”_  
_“He’s Hawkmoth, he wanted to kill you!”_

_“You don’t understand!” Adrien continued to shout back, catching Marinette off guard, “you’ve ruined my life. Marinette,” he sneered, moving to tend to his father, ignoring Marinette, Adrien paid no attention to her as she softly whispered ‘spots on’ before swinging out of the shattered window, and unknown to Adrien, swinging out of his life for the next three years._

_“Dad I know you didn’t mean it! Just stay with me!” Adrien whimpered._

 

“I haven’t been in here for a while,” Chat’s voice abruptly stated, snapping Marinette out of her remembering, she rubbed at the tears that began to fall and instead clenched the broken miraculous in her hand.

“How’d you know I’d be here?”

“Ayla.”

Stiffening at the name, Marinette turned on her heel, to face Chat once again.

“Why’d you come here of all places? Especially as Ladybug?” Chat queried, climbing down from his perch to stand a few feet away from Ladybug.

“To see if I was ready, ready to come back as myself and as Ladybug.” Marinette replied, staring down at her feet, willing herself not to cry, this was a mistake, it felt as though every scar had been split open and she was hurting all over again. She still wasn’t strong enough.

“Are you?” Chat asked, hoping, praying she’d say yes, but he was a black cat and luck was never on the black cat’s side.

“No.” And once again she moved to leave, she moved to run and to never return and Chat was prepared, because as she began to leap away he pounced on her and tackled her back to the floor.

“What are you doing!?”

“A friend of ours told me something, she said go get her Adrien. Go get her and please don’t let her go…I don’t think she meant this, but I’m not letting you go again. You can’t keep fighting us, your memories or yourself…Not by yourself at least.”

“What are you going to do? Kidnap me?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I am so sorry if this sucks! I tried my hardest and kinda got inspired by Kaneki Ken for a bit, if you know him you'll get what I mean! But again sorry if this sucks, I have never written anything like this before and I wanted to get the ships started and slowly pull you guys out of the angst!


	5. A polite kidnapper

“Would you like anything to drink or eat?” Adrien asked, turning to the stubborn girl who sat idly on his bed glaring back at him with nothing but anger within her fierce eyes. 

“You’re quite polite for a kidnapper.” Marinette taunted, staring the boy before her. She’d fought him back in the room and ran and she almost made it but Chat was faster, stronger and determined, he’d swept her up princess style and taken her back to the mansion, to his room and announced that he wouldn’t be leaving her side until she opened up to him so he could help her, much to Marinette’s dismay.

“She’s a feisty one.” Plagg snickered from Adrien’s right munching on a piece of camembert cheese, ignoring his Kwami, Adrien couldn’t help but agree with Plagg. Marinette was certainly feisty, her Ladybug side he’d only ever seen as Chat noir was now her entire being, he knew she didn’t like it but she was still Ladybug and it was showing through her Marinette. 

“Marinette he’s only trying to help you, I haven’t been able to see what occurred in the past three years, but I do know that you need someone to depend on. You need to get over what happened with Hawkmoth and forgive yourself and reunite with your family and Ayla,” Tikki spoke up from her spot on Adrien’s computer desk.

“I don’t need anyone, I only need myself.” The girl stubbornly replied earning a small sigh from Tikki and more snickering from Plagg who was enjoying every ounce of it.

“You can’t keep self-pitying yourself Marinette and pretending you’re strong and getting somewhere. I’ve been there, I did it after I lost my mum and after my…After what happened to Hawkmoth. I only healed when I depended on someone.”

“I’m not like you Adrien, I am quite strong enough to do this on my own. I’m not weak like you.” Marinette lied, thinking back on every mental breakdown she’d experienced, but she couldn’t be truthful in this situation, she wanted to run, to annoy Adrien so much he’d give up. She wanted to go back to her isolated apartment and world. 

Shaking his head at her, Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose. He so badly wanted to summon Ayla to get her here and do her girl whispering but when he’d texted the red head she insisted on having some distance until Marinette was ready. 

“Can I go to sleep now? I have work tomorrow.” Marinette claimed, Adrien stared at the girl, “uh, sure, allow me to fix my bed.”

“Your bed?” Marinette asked, Adrien stared back at her, watching as the usually composed girl slightly flushed at the comment, Adrien stared in awe at her, taking in every facial feature whilst her cheeks were tinged pink.

Opting to try and receive more of the old Marinette’s reaction from her, Adrien moved behind Marinette, “I’m not leaving your side, that includes sleeping,” he purred, letting his Chat show. Marinette stiffened in front of him and flushed a darker shade of pink. 

However that didn’t last long, the said girl shook her head and quickly snapped back to herself, she looked over her shoulder eyeing Adrien and flashed him a frown. 

“Whatever then, doesn’t bother me.” She coldly replied. 

Sighing in defeat, Adrien watched the girl slip into his large bed, she snuggled into the blankets and made a point of huddling up to the wall the bed was placed against. “I’ll get through to her,” Adrien whispered to himself, flipping his lights off, he ignored Plagg’s suggestive stare and slipped into his bed, to face Marinette’s back.

“Goodnight princess,” cooed Adrien, watching her quickly tense before relaxing at the name.

Marinette couldn’t believe that she was in Adrien’s bed, she couldn’t believe the amount of kindness he was showing her after she’d ruined his life. She didn’t know whether to scream and yell about it or to cry and shout. This was all too new for her liking, this sudden kindness and human contact from him in her life, just didn’t fit. She didn’t deserve this from him and yet here he was trying to save her as if she were a danger to society or herself, he probably only saw her as a distressed damsel and nothing else. That sounded right he was doing this to benefit himself, Adrien probably didn’t care about Marinette at all, even though that thought pained her, Marinette opted for going with that before falling into a deep sleep. 

 

*******************************************************************************************

It was six in the morning when Marinette awoke pushed against the wall with Adrien star fished out behind her with his black Kwami along with Tikki sleeping on his forehead, refusing to smile at the sight, Marinette saw this as her chance to bolt. She had three hours before being due in at work and that’d be enough time to dart across Paris to get a change of clothes and to lose Adrien. 

Scooping Tikki from Adrien’s forehead, Marinette looked around the room before whispering her phrase, “spots on.”

Without looking back or even checking if Adrien were still sleeping, Marinette bolted out of the room and swung through Paris until she landed swiftly on her apartment roof. 

 

“Spots off.”

“Marinette? What are you doing?” Tikki quickly queried, staring at her chosen one with wide worried eyes. 

“Getting ready for work.” Marinette hastily replied, maneuvering herself from her roof to the ledge of her bedroom’s window, as if she were a burglar she quickly slid her window up and slipped in the space it now provided within its frame.

“Why’d you leave Adrien?” Tikki asked firmly this time, she watched Marinette sigh before the young girl turned her full attention to Tikki.

“Because I can’t stay with him, his words last night truly meant a lot to me Tikki, they did. But I can’t risk hurting him or anyone else again, I can’t risk ruining his life again when it’s obviously gotten a lot better without me. He doesn’t need some anxiety ridden depressed girl who’s too caught up in the past to move on, he doesn’t need to fix me to feel good about his father.”

“Adrien doesn’t see you like that Marinette, he sees you as a friend and a partner who needs his help to reconnect with the very people she loved after leaving them.” Tikki replied, hoping that she’d get through to Marinette. 

“But it’s how I feel Tikki and it’s how he makes me feel…He hasn’t mentioned his father once, he hasn’t spoken about what he said to me that day or how I made him feel, and until then Tikki I can’t help but feel as though he is trying to get something from me to benefit himself.”

“Oh, Marinette, he spoke a lot to me after you fell asleep last night. I can ensure you, he only wants the best for you, he cares very deeply for both Ladybug and you,” Tikki reassured, she watched Marinette sigh before giving a weak nod to the kwami.

“I’ll think about it, for now I think I should get ready for work, it’s already,” glancing down at her phone, Marinette huffed, “it’s already seven thirty, I must have been slow with getting back here, huh?” she hummed to herself. 

Grabbing fresh clothes, Marinette moved into her bathroom, she slipped out of her clothing and couldn’t help but look in the mirror and notice how weirdly slim she’d become, once upon a time she had quite the athletic and defined body, but after of years of not working out her body from being Ladybug had left her, leaving her with her slim and petite body she currently had.

Sighing to herself, Marinette ran a hand through her hair, puffed up her cheeks and slipped into her shower, wondering what the day would bring her, and wondering what Adrien could have possibly said to Tikki during her sleep. Whatever it was the kwami was now on his side, as much as Marinette would hate to admit it, but Tikki always knew best in situations like this. 

“Maybe I should go back and talk to him.” She uttered to herself, letting the cold shower water smother her body. 

 

Marinette sighed when she arrived to work, luckily for her no Chat or Adrien had caught her, which gave Marinette more time to dwell on Tikki’s words. 

She placed her hand on her bare hip, having opted for a crop top and skirt for the day. Straining to put on her confident act, Marinette strutted into her workplace, greeting her friendly coworkers with a blinding smile, she maneuvered her way to her desk, ready to design the day away and Marinette had a rough plan in her head as a way to make her first step forward in a long trip to recovering.

 

“What do you mean you lost her?” Ayla questioned over the phone, nothing but disbelief echoed in her voice. 

“I don’t know. I just woke up and she was gone,” replied Adrien, nervously scratching the back of his head, he could hear Ayla practically roll her eyes at him. 

“Adrien you idiot, you aren’t meant to lose someone when you kidnap them!” Lectured the latter. 

“I didn’t kidnap her!”

“Righhhhhhht.”

“I didn’t- Why are we arguing about this?”

“Because you’re an idiot. Now did Marinette have Tikki with her?”

“Yes.”

“Did you speak to Tikki about everything?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry about it then, don’t chase her, don’t pursue her. She’ll listen to Tikki she’ll come back, and maybe just maybe I can see Marinette again as well.” Ayla breathed out, sounding defeated on the phone.

**********************************************************************************  
It had been week when his blue haired heroine found her way on his doorstep, with a deep purple coloured dress flowing past her legs and a mysterious black bag being clenched nervously in her left hand.

“Adrien…I’ve had a long think, I have consulted in Tikki, I have stayed up the past few nights thinking about this and thinking about the past. I’ve become weak…So weak, I’ve lost my Ladybug persona and I lost Marinette along the way and Adrien please…Adrien please help me, please help be me again and please, please help me move on from the past. I can’t keep isolating myself, it hurts too much and I-I-I hurt too much and remembering is pure agony,” Marinette choked out, feeling her tears begin all over again.

 

“Of course…My lady.”


End file.
